Between the Night and Dawn
by lovablegeek
Summary: S2 - Martha wants nothing more than to just fall into bed, but there's an unexpected visitor in her hotel room. Spoilers for "Reset" and "Dead Man Walking". One shot


It's nearly morning by the time Martha makes it to the hotel room Torchwood - which she's sure at this point really means Ianto - procured for her. Not far from the Hub, which is all for the best considering the predawn chill in the air, and that she's absolutely dead tired now.

She realizes, belatedly, that may not be the best choice of terms considering the night she's had.

Still, Martha wants nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for a week. It almost reminds her of plenty of nights she had travelling with the Doctor - which is reassuring, in a way, since experience tells her she won't need a week, just a night undisturbed. Which, it seems, she's not going to get, because as she pushes the door to her room open, she's immediately aware of the presence of _someone_ already there, lounging in the chair by the window. She reacts without thinking, picking up a vase with fake flowers in it from a dressing table and holding it up as a weapon, before she realizes that she recognizes that coat... and the smirk Jack directs at her.

"Do I _want_ to know what you're planning to do with that?"

Martha looks at the vase in her hand and sighs. _Yes, Martha, you're terrifying, ready to take on the worst the universe can throw at you with a bunch of flowers._ Martha sets it down with as much dignity as she can manage, gives one longing glance toward the bed, then looks to Jack again. "Please tell me an emergency didn't arise in the... twenty minutes since I left the Hub."

Except it's Jack, and Torchwood, and she's certain there must be something, and waits for his answer with some trepidation. The smirk he's wearing slips casually into a grin, and it's always amazed Martha that he can smile like that after a night like this. After everything that's happened to the two of them.

"No, actually. No emergencies, crises, or... that really would sound better with a third synonym, but it's been a long night, so just... pretend I thought of soething. Actually, I just thought I should walk you here - it's dark out and all."

"Oh, really?" Martha asks, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Most people would do that by actually... you know... walking _with_ me."

Jack shrugs, conceding the point. "And then I remembered you've seen a lot worse than Cardiff can probably throw at you, so I figured you'd be fine."

Martha considers Jack for a moment, decides _he_ doesn't look like he's going to move any time soon, and takes the opportunity to shrug off her jacket and flop backwards onto the bed. It's about the softest thing she's ever felt, or at least it seems like it just now, though she remembers feeling just the same for a month every time she went to bed after that year. It's all she can do not to close her eyes and fall asleep right here and now.

"How did you even get here before me? I didn't see you..."

"I have my ways."

"Jack." It surprises her, a little, to hear that reproving tone in her own voice. She's heard the Doctor speak to him in that tone far too often.

"I took the SUV."

"Oh, of course," she laughs softly, rolling onto her side to face Jack. Maybe if she's looking at him, she'll be less likely to fall asleep. "And what are you doing here anyway?"

"You know..." Jack rises from the chair and walks over to sit at the edge of the bed, right beside Martha. "I meant to take you out to dinner tonight."

Martha has to consider that for a second before she answers - it's hard to think when she's been up for at least twenty-four hours at this point, probably more. _A year ago, you would have been fine,_ she reminds herself. _Someone's gotten a little too used to a full night of sleep._

"Jack, you know I have a boyfriend."

"I can't take you out to dinner because you have a boyfriend?"

"No, I just thought that with you, it might be a necessary disclaimer."

He chuckles softly, his eyes lingering on her for a second before he glances up to the ceiling. Martha glances up too, without thinking, but there's nothing particularly interesting up there, and a moment later her eyes return to his face. "Fair enough. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Jumping into Torchwood like this..."

"You did warn me it wasn't going to be as calm as UNIT," she says, pillowing her head on one arm with a faint smirk. At the time, she'd wondered how anyone besides the Doctor could refer to UNIT as "calm", but... After today, she's got a better idea.

"Yeah." He looks down at her at last, reaching out to touch her shoulder lightly. Without thinking, Martha lifts her free hand and rests it on top of Jack's. "You ever get bored of UNIT-"

"Got it. I'm not sure I could live in _Cardiff_, though..."

"Hey, watch it, will you? _I_ live in Cardiff."

A full-throated laugh escapes her, and it's just so much easier to laugh when Jack's around than any other time. "Yes, well, you're the exception, aren't you?"

"Always." He glances to his vortex manipulator - well, watch, Martha supposes, since the Doctor disabled it - and rises slowly to his feet, giving her hand a squeeze before he lets it go. "I should get back to the Hub. Ianto's keeping an eye on Owen, but..."

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow... well, in a few hours, since I guess it's tomorrow already."

She must have grimaced a little at that, unconsciously, because Jack pauses in backing to the door halfway there. "Sleep as long as you want. If we need you, we'll call."

"And what if I sleep through it?"

Jack shrugs, trying and failing to hide a smile. "Well, then I'll have to send Gwen to break down your door."

Martha bites her lip against a smile of her own, and nods. "Sounds like a plan. ...Thank you, Jack."

He looks surprised, and she can't blame him. He invites her to Cardiff to help them out, and she gets captured, attacked by an alien bug, and infected with a parasite, sees someone she'd started to like die and be brought back to life, gets aged about fifty years in the span of maybe a minute and a half... but even with all of that, she feels she ought to thank him anyway. And he doesn't even ask what she's thanking him for - which is well enough, because she wouldn't be able to explain. He just nods, one hand on the door, and replies, "You're welcome."

Martha forces herself to sit, pushing herself up though every muscle in her body urges her to just _lie down_ and _go to sleep_. "And Jack?"

He turns back to her, the door half-open, eyebrows raised in question.

"I do expect that dinner at some point. You _really_ can't hold out on me like that."

Jack flashes her his most charming smile, the one that makes her heart feel like it's doing somersaults in her chest, and gives her a salute without the faintest hint of irony - no one else but Jack would even be able to _manage_ that. "Yes ma'am. Any other requests before I go?"

Her lips twitch a little, but she manages to ignore the smirk and the implications of _that_ question, though only just barely. "Turn out the lights when you leave." 


End file.
